On the GreenBeat: Khosla backs Ciris Energy, new solar shelters provide emergency power

Here’s the latest action we’re following on the GreenBeat today:

Khosla backs natural gas startup Ciris — Ciris Energy makes technology that converts coal to methane and announced today it has raised equity in its second round of financing. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, and included existing investors Braemar Energy Ventures, Rho Ventures and GE Energy Financial Services. In an SEC document first pointed out by CNET, the company reported last week it had raised $23.9 million out of a planned $39.7 million.

Abegnoa plant to generate power after sundown — The $2 billion, 250-megawatt Arizona plant by Spain’s Abegnoa Solar will use molten salt to hold thermal energy, so it will be able to generate power up to six hours longer than it would otherwise, WSJ reports. The Solana plant (rendering pictured, left) received a Department of Energy $1.45 billion loan guarantee last month and will become the first large-scale stored-energy solar plant in the U.S. — although there are more proposed in California and Nevada.

Ascent and FTL launch disaster-ready solar shelter — The two companies are have launched PowerMod, a 165-pound solar-powered shelter made using Ascent’s flexible solar panels with FTL’s fabrics, according to CleanTechnica. The shelters would bypass the need to transport fuel in disaster situations and would provide a small amount of power — 4.5 kilowatt-hours a day — to power lights, charge electronics and run AC and refrigerators. It can be assembled with two people in 15 minutes, the companies say.

Chevrolet Volt sales outstrip Nissan Leaf — In case you missed VentureBeat’s report last Friday, in both cars’ first month on the market, the Chevrolet Volt sold between 250 and 350 cars while the Leaf sold only 10 due to a lack of inventory. It comes down to pure numbers — the partially electric hybrid Volt is producing faster and has no waiting list, while the all-electric Leaf is taking longer to produce and has a waiting list of 20,000.